Abstract
Currently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, some people are pretending to have COVID-19. The pretending to have COVID-19 can be considered as a symptom of Munchausen syndrome. It can be speculated that people with factitious disorders may pretend to have COVID-19 because of an inner need to get the sympathy and special attention from others; therefore, it is imperative that this issue should be studied with a multidisciplinary approach. In addition, people should not share any message from those pretending to have COVID-19 that may result in increasing public stress.
Keywords: COVID-19, Munchausen syndrome, public health, social media, public stress, pandemic.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.12998/wjcc.v8.i4.652] [PMID: 32149049]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s1679-45082017md3746] [PMID: 29364370]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0163-8343(03)00061-6] [PMID: 12972228]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(02)07502-5] [PMID: 11830219]